“You can try, he hasn’t been answering his mobile.”
And wasn’t likely to answer Nicholas’s call. But what if Shane was in trouble? Neither of their parents knew the truth about Shane’s debts, or about him ripping off the company. Could his drug dealer have killed him? Worry skittered over Nicholas’s skin. “I’ll let you know if I hear from him.”
“None of this is your fault, Nicholas. You can’t control what he does.”
He had nothing to say to that. He should have tried harder to get through to his friend. He hadn’t wanted to believe the figures, had wanted to trust Shane was telling the truth when he said he wasn’t involved. He should have known better. His friend had a tendency to take the easy option if it was offered.
“Your father and I thought we’d come down to visit for a couple of weeks. Do you mind?”
In other words his mother wanted to check up on him. It was kind of sweet but he didn’t want to see his father. Gerald would go through all his work, would visit the building and the contractors he’d lined up, would micro-manage.
Did it matter anymore?
Did he care if his father took over?
It would be a relief if he was sure his father wouldn’t change things on Mai, make things harder on her. No, this was one development he needed to follow through to the end. He would see Mai set up her new bakery and then he’d walk away from Shadbolt. Find his own direction.
A movement caught his eye. Mai walked down the stairs, her long hair a little mussed from sleeping, and she was wearing one of his shirts.
She was gorgeous. Everything he needed. He didn’t want to think about work, or his family or Shane. He wanted to be with her.
“Nicholas?” His mother’s voice in his ear.
“Sure, come down. Let me know what day.”
“We’ll be down this weekend. I love you, Nicholas.” She hung up.
Nicholas put down the phone and moved over to Mai, taking her into his arms.
“Work again?”
“No, my mum.”
“Is everything all right?”
He hesitated. Should he tell her about everything that had happened before the fire? “Sort of.” He wanted to. He wanted to confide in her. Wanted to know if she thought he’d done the wrong thing.
He took her hand and led her to the couch.
“What’s wrong?” Mai squeezed his hand.
“I told you about the last development, the one that burned down.”
She nodded.
“There was a little more to it.” He took a deep breath. “The development was a joint venture between Shadbolt and Jameson. The Jamesons have been friends of the family for years and own a construction company. I worked for them when I was at university.”
“Where you discovered a love for building things?”
“Yeah.” He tugged on his earlobe. “My best friend Shane took over the company about a year ago when his father retired. It was the first project we’d worked on together and Dad put me completely in charge.”
“What was that like?”
“They say never do business with family.” And Shane was like a brother to him.
“What happened?”
“A couple of months in, I noticed changes – cheaper materials were being used, but the budget stayed the same. I questioned Shane and he told me I was mistaken.” He ran a hand through his hair. He hadn’t been able to ignore his gut feeling that something wasn’t right. “I kept looking into it, thinking maybe a supervisor was involved, was skimming the extra money and Shane didn’t know.”
She ran a hand over his arm. “What did you do?”
“I examined everything, work schedules, deliveries, turning up on site unannounced – I spent more time on site than Shane did. Finally I realised it could only be Shane who was responsible.”
“Did you confront him?”
“I was going to. For about a week he avoided me, saying he had to work on other projects, so I took up the slack on our development. Then we had the fire.” Everyone was in shock. “When I discovered the insurance hadn’t been paid, I told Shane first and he went mental.” He closed his eyes. Shane’s face had contorted into a mask of fear. He’d said they were going to kill him, that Nicholas had ruined his life. “He had some debts, big debts.” Nicholas hated thinking about it even now. He hadn’t known anything had been wrong. “He’d become addicted to meth, said the stress of running the business was too much to handle, and he owed his dealer over fifty grand.”
“Wow.” Mai sat back. “That’s a lot of meth.”
How had Shane been taking so many drugs without Nicholas having a clue? Some friend he was. “They were coming after him hard, and skimming off the project was his way of paying back the dealers.” It had been one of the worst days in his life. His best friend was in trouble and he couldn’t help. Nicholas glanced at Mai. “How could I tell our fathers that Shane was in such a mess?”
“So you said nothing?”
He nodded. “He agreed to go into rehab and we were going to work out a way to settle his debts.”
“Do you think the fire was related?”
His gut clenched. “I asked Shane, and he said it was the dealer.” The heaviness in his gut dissolved. “It was part punishment for not paying off the debt fast enough and part expectation that Shane would pay him back with the insurance money.”
“But you hadn’t paid the insurance.”
“Right.”
Mai shifted closer to him. “What happened next?”
“The police started saying it was arson. They knew I suspected something, but it wasn’t my story to tell. I couldn’t turn Shane in, not when he was dealing with so many other things at the same time.” He’d failed his friend once, he wasn’t going to do it again.
“You took the brunt of the accusations?”
“Yeah.”
“That was incredibly loyal of you.”
He couldn’t read her expression. “Do you think that’s a bad thing?”
“No, it’s a selfless thing to do. Courageous. And I need to stop thinking of myself.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
She stood up, biting her bottom lip. “Can I use your phone?”
He handed it to her. “Is something wrong?”
“Yeah. I need to speak to Lincoln.”
Why did she need to talk to the police?
Whatever it was, he would be there for her.
Like he hadn’t been for Shane.
Mai’s heart pounded as Nicholas went to let Lincoln in. She’d asked Lincoln to make sure he wasn’t followed, and to park in the garage. Nicholas had left the door up for them and it was now closing.
“This way.” Nicholas led Lincoln and Ryan through to the living area to where Mai waited. They were both dressed in their police uniforms, their shirts crisp, the crease in their pants perfectly straight.
Lincoln frowned. “What the hell is going on, Mai? What’s with all this clandestine shit?”
She stood up, paced around the kitchen table, unable to look him in the eye, unable to sit still.
“Mai, what’s wrong?” Lincoln stepped in front of her, his tone more gentle now.
She looked up at him. Shadows darkened the skin under his eyes. She didn’t want to add to his stress, but there was no helping it.
Nicholas switched on the kettle. “Drink anyone?”
“Tea, please.” She wasn’t sure where to start.
“Spill it, Mayday,” Lincoln demanded, taking her by the shoulders and steering her towards the kitchen table.
She sat, assessing their expressions. Lincoln and Nicholas were both frowning, but Ryan waited patiently for her to explain.
“It started New Year’s Eve with Gordon,” she said.
Ryan got out his notepad as the water in the kettle bubbled and Nicholas made the drinks, the teaspoon clinking against the china mug.
This was it. She had to give them as much detail as possible. She told them about seeing
Gordon and the blond at the party, witnessing Gordon’s meeting with Creepy Guy at the park, and then seeing them at the bakery and the cafe as well.
Each man’s expression got darker and darker as she spoke until Lincoln burst out, “Why didn’t you call me immediately?”
“He threatened my family, Lincoln,” Mai said.
Lincoln swore. “What did he say?”
“That my sisters were pretty.” It didn’t sound like much but the threat had been clear to her. “I’m sorry.”
“We can protect them,” Lincoln told her.
“I was scared. For my sisters and for you. The tattooed guy had a gun. Then Gordon died and I knew Creepy Guy would burn the bakery if I said anything.”
“Risks like this are part of the job.” Lincoln sighed. “I need you to go through it again in detail.”
It was the right thing to do, she’d already left it too long. She nodded and began to talk.
“Jesus,” Lincoln said when she finished. “I’m going to need you to work with a sketch artist to get a description of the creepy guy.”
Tension coiled in her stomach. Lincoln was right but the fear bubbled in her. “All right. He was in the bakery with you this morning.”
Lincoln shook his head. “That’s why you were acting strangely.” He swore. “I didn’t notice him. You didn’t recognise the other guys you saw?”
“The blond was kind of familiar, but not a local.” Her eyes widened as she made the connection. “He was the guy Gordon was with on New Year’s Eve,” she said. “I thought he was buying drugs, but maybe he gave them to Gordon.”
Lincoln nodded.
Nicholas put his arm around her and his warmth seeped into her skin, thawing the stiffness that had taken residence. “Should Mai be alone?”
“We don’t know what this guy could do.” Lincoln looked at Mai. “Keep someone with you as much as possible.”
Annoyance and fear battled with each other. “I’ve got a cafe to clean up,” she said. “I can’t have someone with me all the time.”
“I’ll help,” Nicholas said.
She glanced at him. “You’ve got better things to do than babysit me.”
“Not really, and I can work from the cafe as easily as I can work from here.”
It was sweet, but she didn’t want him involved in this. It was bad enough she’d involved Lincoln and Ryan. She didn’t want another man she loved involved.
Oh.
Wow.
She squeezed her eyes shut for a second hoping to calm her suddenly racing heart. She’d gone and fallen in love with Nicholas.
“That’s sorted then.” Lincoln got to his feet. “I’ll call you when I’ve arranged the sketch artist appointment.”
She nodded, managed to wave as Nicholas walked them out the door.
Nicholas was going back to Perth when the project was over.
What was she going to do?
On Saturday morning Nicholas headed downstairs to the bakery early to see Mai. He’d barely left her side since she’d told him about the creepy guy. He’d slept at her apartment and gone to the Mortimer Road cafe with her while she cleaned and patched. He’d taken her to the Albany airport so she could fly to Perth to meet with the sketch artist, and then picked her up again afterwards. He’d stood next to her while she’d cried at Gordon’s funeral, had comforted her after she’d given her condolences to Gail and the children who weren’t old enough to really understand what had happened. He hated to see her so upset, refused to leave her to wallow in her guilt.
He loved being the one she turned to, loved holding her in his arms, loved just being by her side.
Mai was wrist deep in dough and she grinned at him when he walked in. “Morning, sleepy head.”
He chuckled. Seven o’clock was hardly a sleep in. He kissed her and greeted Penny, then walked through to the serving area to make a coffee. “What time will you be finished here?”
“I’ll be another half an hour,” Mai said. “Then Penny should be able to cope with the rest.”
“You betcha,” Penny said.
“Can I help with anything?”
Mai pursed her lips. “No. It will be faster if I do it.”
Burn. He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t think I can cut it?”
“I haven’t seen much of your baking skills,” Mai said. “Besides, by the time I explain what you need to do, and I’ve made sure you’re doing it right, I could have it finished.”
She had a point. In the past few days he’d watched Mai work and she was a machine when it came to kneading and all things baking. The speed with which she and Penny turned out bread, rolls and pastries was incredible. He leaned up against one of the stainless steel benches to wait and his mind drifted.
There had been no sign of Creepy Guy. Nicholas spoke to Lincoln every day and it appeared the thug hadn’t discovered Mai had talked to the police. He shuddered. It killed him that Mai had had a gun pointed at her while he’d waited oblivious by the car. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. He wouldn’t fail her.
She’d have to get used to him being her shadow.
She glanced at him as if sensing his thoughts and smiled. “I won’t be long.”
“There’s no rush.” He sipped his coffee. “Who’s going to be there today?”
“I’m not sure who Fleur invited. Dad is doing some gardening and all of the musketeers will be there.”
He wanted to get to know Mai’s friends a little more. She’d told him tales of their adventures during their evenings together and if he wanted Mai in his life, he needed to win over her friends.
And he did want her in his life.
He wasn’t quite sure what he would do when the development was over, but he’d make it work. His savings were enough that they would carry him through until he found something permanent. He enjoyed living in Blackbridge, liked the slower pace. And working on a single development was a luxury – there was no longer the stress and aggravation of juggling a million things.
In a couple of weeks, Mai would move out and the demolition crew would take down the building. The concrete fabricators were manufacturing the slabs needed for the new structure and he had someone else interested in one of the last units. Once the build began, there wouldn’t be much to keep him busy.
What would he do next?
Mai put the tray of pastries in the oven and wiped her hands on her apron. “I’m done. I’ll just get a few things to take with us.” She hurried into the bakery.
The day was already sunny, with blue skies stretching endlessly as he drove them over to the cafe. When he pulled up, he followed Mai inside. “Where do you want to start?”
“The walls behind the display cabinets. If they dry in time we can put up the shelves by the end of the day.” She walked through to the kitchen. “You’re going to do the ramp, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. I’ll get one of the guys to help me with it.”
“Kit’s your best bet,” Mai said. “She’s a genius at building anything.”
He winced at his unintentional sexism. “I guess as a farmer she’s got to know how to do a lot.”
“That’s right.” She disappeared into the storeroom. “I’ll get a couple of people painting in here as well. It only needs one coat to freshen it up, and then I’ll put together the shelving.”
“The cavalry have arrived!” a voice called from the cafe.
Mai grinned. “That would be Kit.”
He walked out the front where Kit and Fleur were both dressed in singlets, shorts and boots, their brown hair tied back in ponytails.
“Good to see you again, Nic,” Kit said. She pinched a doughnut from the box Mai had left on the display cabinet and took a bite. “Where do you want us to start?”
“You can help Nicholas build the ramp,” Mai said. “Fleur can start painting.”
“What are you going to do?” Fleur asked.
“I’ve still got the fridges to clean.”
Fleur shuddered. “Better you than
me.”
Nicholas showed Kit the ramp he’d designed and she nodded. “That shouldn’t be too hard. How good are you with a hammer, City Boy?”
He smiled at the nickname. “I can hold my own.”
She grinned at him. “Good.”
He dug the holes while she measured and cut the lengths of wood for the posts.
“I should apologise for the thing at the council meeting,” Kit said as she mixed the rapid set concrete in the hole while he held the new railing posts steady.
He glanced at her. He’d forgotten about it. “Should you?”
“Yeah. I stuck my nose in where it wasn’t needed. I should have checked with Mai first, but sometimes she doesn’t ask for help.”
“Sometimes she doesn’t need it.”
Kit smiled at him. “That’s right. She’s pretty self-reliant.” She inspected the level and nodded in satisfaction. “I was ready to dislike you for her sake,” she said. “But I’m glad I don’t have to. You seem like a nice guy.”
“I think I am.”
“I hope so, because if you hurt Mai, you’ll wish you’d never been born.” Kit laughed.
Nicholas wasn’t certain she was kidding. He needed to change the subject. “How many dairy cows have you got?”
“About two hundred.”
He let go of the post, satisfied it wasn’t going anywhere.
“How much longer are you going to be down here for?” Kit asked.
Not subtle, but at least Mai’s friends were looking out for her. “At least until the development is completed.”
“And after that?”
“I’m not sure.” And when he was, he’d tell Mai first, not Kit.
They worked well together, changing topics as it suited them until Mai came out. Nicholas hammered the last nail in place and stood back. The ramp was finished.
“You’ve done a fantastic job.” Mai kissed him.
“Hey, it wasn’t just City Boy,” Kit complained.
“Yeah, but we both know you don’t need a bigger head.”
Kit chuckled.
A car drove around from the back of the cafe, its trailer piled high with branches and cuttings from the yard. Anh wound down the window. “I’m doing a tip run. Do you need me to pick up anything?”
Nothing to Gain Page 19
